But Why Did the Character DO that?

Have you ever been in the middle of a novel and wondered why an author had a character do, or not do, something that seemed either illogical or out of character?  Of course you have.  I recently have read two novels like this, and I know perfectly well I have something in An Involuntary King that fits this category. I just suggested my own strategy to an author, and I would like to share it here.

First I would like to describe the three instances I picked up on.

In Helen of Troy Helen, when her beloved Paris is dying from a poisoned arrow, forgets all about her lifelong friend, Gellinor, who just happens to be a poisons expert, runs all the way to the mountain to find Paris's ex-main squeeze to beg her to heal him -- she's a water nymph.  They can do those things..  I asked author Margaret George about this, and she explained that she was being true to the original story of The Iliad.  Understood, but after several hundred pages of Gellinor's smarts and knowing, as we do by then, that the nymph promised to turn her down when the day comes, I should think that Helen would at least have sent for Gellinor to look after Paris while she went so far away.

In Susan Higginbotham's The Traitor's Wife the male protagonist, Hugh le Dispenser, spends an afternoon in bed with King Edward II and then goes home to his wife.  Now, be honest, wouldn't you love to know what was going through his mind when he first encounters his wife?  "How was day at work, honey?"  There is nothing in the book about this.  I wrote to Susan and asked her about this omission.  She told me it had veen too long and she couldn't remember that much about the scene.

In my own novel, An Involuntary King, the character MacDhui helps first the man MacDhui's lover, O'Donnell, has condemned to hang for rejecting his advances, and later helps the queen and Shannon to escape over the river to Críslicland.  His motivation is never explicitly stated.  he would have every reason to betray the three, yet he chooses inexplicably to do the opposite.  Why?  The real reason is I just wanted the story to go that way.  I knew it was a very flawed bit of writing.

So what do you do when you realize you have done this in your novel?  Easy: you asked the reader who is quizzing you about it, "What do you think?  Why do you thing he or she did or did not do that or even just what he or she did?"  hey presto, you get to listen to a reader talk about your characters in a way that is exceedingly gratifying and you are off the hook.

Though neither George nor Higginbotham asked me, I decided to give an answer.  For Helen I said she either knew Gellinor was not there or perhaps was just so upset she did the dumbest thing.  Or perhaps she doubted Gellinor's skill more than she lets on.  With Hugh le Dispenser I told the author that what I imagined would have happened is that he would come home, and in order to prove something to himself, he would have SO made love to his wife.

I actually have an answer for MacDhui.  I only came up with it later, partly helped by how reader's interpreted the situation.  I decided that he felt sorry for Rory, was a little grateful the man had not responded positively to O'Donnell's seduction, and acted out of understanding and decency.  Then when Rory's friends show up, he does what he can to sweep them and the whole topic under the rug by getting them out of the country.  Well, it's not a good reason, but it's a reason.

So I hope these two authors and the rest of you will remember when a reader says, "Why the heck did so and so not...?" just to answer, "What do you think?"